Hartan Expanding Ch. 02

Copyright February 2024 by Fit529 Dotcom (started 2019)

== Disclaimers ==

All names have been randomized to protect those idiots who think they are secretly living other lives in random multiverse shards and having lots more sex than they normally do here. Even if you randomly have the same name as someone here, NO, it's not you, get over yourself.

All persons engaging in or exposed to any sexual situations are over age 18.

If you like this work, feel free to: (upvote, follow-author, favorite-work, add to list, see author's profile/bio page, write a review, add a comment with your thoughts/inspirations, etc.)

== PREVIOUS CHAPTERS ==

So much has happened in the previous chapters, it's kind of useless to summarize it. This only makes much sense if you start at the beginning.

That said? Aliens invade, flattening Earth in slow motion. Fifteen years later, I'm working hard to get off planet, hoping to avoid getting drafted into an unknown fate, and discover there's a whole lot of sex going on that I don't know about.

I have to adjust.

== Chapter: Biggest Things at Home ==

I got home about 3:15 (a.m.), like normal, and found my mom waiting for me in the front room. She was sometimes home when we got there (all of us got home from school about the same time).

This time, she told me to hold on until she was done greeting everyone, and then got her coat and asked, "Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure...?"

I still had my coat on so we walked outside. It was November, and chilly but not quite cold yet. She walked to the sidewalk and took my arm in hers.

There were still kids coming home from school, the street was crowded, but it thinned out quite a bit as we went the 3 blocks down to a vacant lot someone had turned into a park, with a couple of benches. A camping tent was set up in the back of the lot, way away from us, but she walked over that direction, and when we found no one there, we walked back over to the benches.

"So, Kevin, You're 18. Big age change."

"Uh, yeah. I guess... I guess it is kinda big..." I swallowed hard. I knew a big conversation was coming, but mom was just hanging out with it, seeming mostly relaxed to any outsider probably, but I knew her, and this was not a relaxed moment.

"You had your conversation today."

"Yeah, I got it from Alissa Montaqua. She explained the rules."

"I hadn't checked who it was, good to hear. She's smart, a good person, I think. Did you have time for it all, or are you going to meet again? Are you ready for this conversation with me?"

"I have no freakin' idea if I'm ready, Mom. We had enough time, sure, but ready is a ..."

"Loaded question, sorry. I've had training on this but actually being here is an 'Life Event', you know? It helps being a minister; I've known about this stuff from the start. I've had to counsel quite a few people on it, and help them through rough spots. Lots of those." She paused for breath and we stared at the trees for a minute, the cool night air and stars twinkling letting us relax. "So, prove you were listening. Spell out what rules you were told."

After I echoed what Alissa said, she nodded. Mostly she stayed quiet, which I took to mean I'd gotten most of the details right.

Finishing up, I said, "So, now, I think ... my life is in really my own hands, and that's scary. I have a good shot at going offworld but only if I don't screw up, and I've got to prove all sorts of things if it's going to happen. I have to work out like mad, study everything, have perfect relationships with my handlers and tell them everything, and get at least one girl knocked up."

"That last bit isn't in the rules. And, that's not a nice phrase, you know better."

"Okay." I did. I was being cheeky because this was thrust on me and I wasn't sure I wanted or was ready for it.

She continued, "Otherwise, perfect. I knew you were smart." She smiled at me in a really mom-type way.

"I know I'm smart, too. The IQ test we took last year, they didn't tell me what it was."

"You're at 145, Kevin."

I thought about that. "It's not quite a genius level?"

"Ignore that. It's enough. That's the really, really important thing. It's enough. The other things -- your emotional stability and stress-coping skills, those will be tested through this 18Club process. Remember where you're going. The space up there is really, really tight. You're going to be living right on top of other people, hot bunking, doing whatever you need to do to survive, and get along, and help humanity survive. It doesn't look like we're going to survive down here."

My mom was usually really upbeat. I hadn't heard her talk like this before. "What?"

"I know some things you don't know, Kevin. Your dad, he... found out some things. There are... there's classified stuff we've been read into and you can't see. I help your dad, sometimes, at the City Center, and I have to be cleared for it. I don't know anything specific, and if I did I couldn't tell you, but I do know the way people talk, and it's not looking great here."

I got shivers and was suddenly even more nervous, and today was turning out to be a doozie.

Mom was still calm. She said, "You and your sister, hopefully, will survive, at least one of you. You've both got good chances, maybe? I'm your mom, it's so hard to tell. You're both smart enough, work hard, all that. You need the social skills now, and we have to help with that."

"Can I ask you for advice on who to choose as a handler?"

"Sure! I'm glad to help. Ethically, I can't tell you specific people, and even if I did, you'd have to tell the truth and I'd get in trouble that way, too. Never lie to your handlers! Ever. I can ask you questions, though, and maybe guide you a bit. I have ethical responsibilities, too. In the end, it's up to you."

"How many do I need to have?"

"Normally, the scoring system says that men need ten class-1D assessments or better to get offworld. You have to give assessments, too, but remember, if you give good reviews on someone, and they disappoint, it reflects on you, too. Only give them out if you are confident. Other people have the same way of deciding."

"Ten? I have to get 10 recommendations?"

"So, you probably want to date about 20 girls between now and the time you're 21. Boys, men, really, don't usually go to advanced training, I've heard at least, until they're 19. But, you've got a better than 50/50 chance at this stage, but ... maybe not 60%. Hard to tell. SOOO much depends on how you accept the jobs and perform them."

"Lots of work, I get it."

She shook her head, "More than that. More than just 'lots'... Now, it doesn't count that much against you if you mess up your relationships early, as long as the handlers involved (and those that come after) see and document your improvement."

"And they end up knowing all my faults?"

"They'd better know them. They have to find them, and help you with them, all along the path. You have to be brutally, absolutely 100% knock-down perfectly honest with them, and with yourself, At All Times. No halfway things. If you feel something, you tell them twice, two different ways, at least. You suspect something about yourself or them, good or bad or indifferent, guess at it and phrase it as a guess. Tell them everything you think, know, feel, want, crave, hate, despise, love, fear, everything. You have to tell them all that. Nothing gets held back. SO much is normal, and if you don't give words to your oddball desires, they'll know you're hiding something and presume it's something worse than it is."

"What if it comes out mean-spirited?"

"Then they'll tell you that, give you feedback. They're going to be honest with you, at least they should be. No one is perfect. You'll be rating their abilities and failures along the way as well. It's another 10 to 20 minutes a day of documentation, roundabouts. That's what I hear from most guys. Girls have about double that, between talking to other handlers and writing up what's going on."

"This is really complicated."

"Not at first. You'll have guidance. Pick an older girl as a first handler, they'll have experience at it and can help make it easy, give you guidelines and tricks to make it go faster and better."

"Oh."

"And, don't forget your responsibilities."

"What? What responsibilities? She didn't..."

"You already know them, mostly, but I'll spell it out for you. I'm sorry, this is hard for me, I'm your mother, it's a difficult thing. Your father is vaguely aware of most of this, but he's not here most of the time, he's helping make the city livable for 30x the population it was built for." She took a breath. "Okay, responsibility number one: give her what she needs. Figure out what that is, and give it to her. Usually it's listening to her gripes for 10 to 20 minutes a day, and not interrupting with how you'd fix them."

I nodded, that sounded like the Family-Life class curriculum.

"Second, sorry to have to tell you this, but... Give her orgasms. You know what I mean. You're old enough. Get good at it. You need to be there for her. Third, don't ask her for things she can't give you. She's not going to love you with all her heart, you're a handle, a boyfriend, and there's a finite lifespan in these relationships, we all know this. But, that said, you can love as many people as you want, all at the same time, and so can she. No jealousy. Explore it, and let it pass through you without stopping."

I nodded solemnly, and thought for a second. "Uh, I have an idea for a starting handler."

"Who?"

"You may not like this."

"Try me."

"Maria. Our Maria."

Mom, consumed in thought, inhaled kind of sharply and cast her eyes sideways and pursed her lips as she considered the choice, neither indicating approval or disapproval.

Finally, after maybe a full minute, she turned towards me more, and said, "I think that would work fine. But, you have to start with some honesty between us before that."

I smiled weakly, "You know about Hana?"

Mom chuckled a bit, speaking carefully, like she was navigating a legal minefield. "I don't officially know anything about Hana. I might or might not suspect, but, officially, I don't know anything. Have you and she been... intimate? Answer yes or no."

"Yes."

She said, "Do NOT tell me specifics, especially in definite terms. Describe - a Hypothetical Situation! - where something might have happened, and what it might have been."

I said, "It's weird to talk about with you, Mom.... I haven't really talked about it with anyone. Hypothetically, if there were two people who were both 18 years old, but not yet half cycle 18, and they were laying on the same bed but masturbating themselves, would that be a problem?"

She smiled and said carefully, "No, if they were both 18 at the time, no. As long as there was no sexual intercourse, the consequences of such a hypothetical situation would just be observation and prevention of future improprieties."

"Hypothetically, would there be a problem with..." I was struggling. "...with her giving me oral sex -- a blowjob?"

Telling my mother about this was pegging my weird-o-meter.

"And, in this hypothetical, did the male ejaculate into the girl's mouth, or, was there a risk of pregnancy...?"

"In her mouth, yeah. Hypothetically. She didn't... spill any. It felt... wow. Yeah. So, like, you know what, I guess..."

"And, was that it?"

"We, uh... Hypothetically... might have gone to sleep then. But, in the morning, when we... uh, they, these Hypothetical people, got up, right after... someone... poked her head in and said hello, then in that situation there was another blowjob. And, again, there was fun, but no ... risks of complications. This person, somehow, might have said that it was very fun and liked it, but hard on her mouth, her jaw, I think."

"Yeah, it is *hard* sometimes." Her voice almost hinted at a grin, a tease at a double-entendre, being a little funny.

"Mom!"

"Son, get over it. We're talking like adults here. Okay. So, was that it? How many times total, in this hypothetical situation, and was it all oral?"

"Hypothetically, it was, uh, would have been, just those 2 times, 4 days ago. Oral only, both times. Nothing since."

Mom nodded. "Okay. This is okay. Whatever you've done, really, it's legally fine even if it wasn't a hypothetical. You were the same age, and over 18. So, yeah, but there are... considerations for me as a mandatory reporter if there were any kind of coercion, force, which I didn't hear..."

"OHmygod no!"

"...Of course. You're not that type that I know about, but I have to ask carefully, with everyone. So, like I said, I have to ask, did either of you do anything, absolutely anything at all, even remotely oddly or otherwise, that could be seen as forcing the other one to do anything?"

My brow furrowed, "God! NO! Totally not like that. She and I got to talking, or trying to, and she said that she'd seen me breathing hard, and that it wasn't a problem, and she could help me with that, and it was, like, both of us totally wanted to see more of each other."

"Sounds fine, I'm sure you both were into it. If I ask her about it, what will she say?"

"Same exact thing, I'm pretty sure."

"I have to ask her, you know."

"Go ahead."

"You shouldn't touch her anymore, you know. Part of 18Club patterns are to avoid that, with girls who aren't handling you. Actually, you'll want to talk about this with your first handler. So... You're thinking about Maria?"

"Yeah... Is that okay?"

"She's 20, turned so a couple of months ago. She's been a handler a few times, I think, you can check. She'd be a good choice. I think it's why she lives with us."

"What do we do? How does this work?"

"Ask her if she'd like to go on a date, a walk in the park or something. You can ask tonight, or tomorrow, whenever, but make it pretty quick. You can't wait on this stuff or... other questions come up. Bravery is rewarded in this world, now, but not recklessness. Your timing matters, too."

I nodded.

"Ask her what her plans are. Be blunt, but kind. Remember the line you were told today, 'Girls Have Plans'."

Mom knowing about that meant it was part of a script, it occurred to me.

"Tell her what you think about her, about concerns you have about ways it might not work, ask her if she's interested in exploring the idea. Don't demand anything, she'll say no if you do that, any girl would. You have no rights. You only have responsibilities. If you live up to them, you get good things."

"GOOD things?" I smiled broadly and raised an eyebrow.

Mom ignored that and stood up. She switched to a very businesslike tone, "If she says yes, we'll change the room assignments around a bit. Things are moving fast, life is getting shorter, and that's not even... let's hope they don't have to draft you."

I could tell I wasn't supposed to ask for details on that comment. Some things, when your mom says them, you don't ask questions.

== Chapter: Back at Home ==

I'd had dinner at school, and it was almost 4:30 am when mom and I got home. Usually I went to my room and read a novel before bed, but I was wandering around a little. I was more than a little stunned at how my world had changed in a single day.

I passed Maria in the hallway and said Hi, and she said hi back. Then, just as I walked into my room, I caught sight of mom flagging Maria down and motioning her into the kitchen. I think I knew what that was about.

After a while, I went to the bathroom and brushed teeth, then out to the front room and then the basement to chat a moment and say goodnight to the little ones. Sometimes I would tuck them into bed, or read them a story, or give hugs. They were super cute, and I remember feeling special when someone would read me a story when I was little.

It was impossible to not get attached. I loved them like they were family, because really, I kind of saw them that way, little brothers and sisters.

Walking upstairs, I realized I could be having kids sometime, and not so many years away, maybe two? It'd be soon, probably, if what they said was true. Then I'd be a 'daddy' figure, not a 'big brother' figure, but if the girl went offworld, and I didn't? I'd never see them?

It might not be fair. At the same time, I couldn't feel bad about it - at least both the girl and my kid would have a chance at surviving the Hartans.

Weird-ass thoughts!

Coming back into my room, I saw Hana was there, and Maria, too. Hana saw me, and smiled tenderly at me, then walked towards the door past me. Stopping just as she went by, she leaned over and gave me a soft kiss on my right cheek, then left the room.

Maria followed her, but then stopped and shut the door.

"Rumor has it you want to talk with me."

I stammered a little, and said, "Uh, yeah. I, uh... you talked with mom?" We all called mom, 'Mom', even if she was a step-mom to some of us.

"Yes. We had a shorthand conversation. There were kids in the room. Everything was in code. So, I'm not sure if I got it right... did I understand that you're interested... In me?"

I winced, "I am. But, I'm worried, too. It's not just you."

"Not just me? What do you mean by that?" She was suddenly worried.

"Hana. I'm worried about her, too. I had a kind of... thing with Hana going the last couple of days. I'm worried she might be hurt, I don't want to hurt her feelings."

Maria was relieved, "Oh, of course. Yeah, I saw her looking at you the other day, no getting around that kind of glance. But, it's okay, really. Mom will talk with her, I'm sure."

"I was thinking, that... maybe I should tell her something, anything, to make it easier on her, that we can't fool around anymore..."

Maria was still relaxing, a giant-relief type of sigh. "Well. That was a worry. Don't scare me like that!"

"Like what?"

"I got my hopes up, and you start off saying you're worried and I'm thinking, my God, what's he doing?!"

"Oh." I smiled, "No.. NO, really, I'm all-in for this thing, this... idea, with you, with... maybe. I am hoping. But, I don't know what I'm doing. Today has been a really, really BIG day."

Maria nodded in understanding, but then quite obviously decided to give me some thinking space. "If things are moving fast, let's take 10 minutes? I have to think a bit, too. I'll be back, and we can talk some more."

I nodded, "Sure, no problem."

Maria left the room, and I sat down on my bed and looked on my device at some reading I was supposed to be doing about World War II.

I didn't really read anything, I was mostly just trying to go over the idea, did I want Maria as my handler, was this a good choice? It was a big choice, probably...

About 15 minutes later, Maria knocked and came back in, shutting the door behind her.

There were no chairs in the room. She said, "Can you come down so we can talk closer?" I got down and sat on the floor, leaned up against the wall. Maria sat next to me, not quite facing me.

As we settled in, and I noticed she was watching me carefully, trying to figure out what I was thinking.

I decided to start the conversation. "Maria, I've got a question. I have to know. Did you arrange it so that we would run 'into' each other in the mornings while you and I were getting ready? Has this all been a setup?"

She looked confused for a minute, then laughed. "No, that's funny. Not a setup. Fortunate, but not a setup. I certainly didn't disagree. You've run into others here - there's at least 5 girls here that are older than you. Plus, your sister! But... No, I wasn't trying to do that. It's worked out that way, maybe. Have I seemed like I was paying too close attention? Bathroom-wise, that might be upsetting."

I wasn't embarrassed, I had enjoyed being around her. "No, not a problem, just wondering if there was more going on than I knew about, on that front. Maybe you were timing it so you were bending over the sink when I happened to be behind you... if you know what I mean."